Favorite Song
by thefastlane
Summary: What if everything was wrong...and no one knew your favorite song? [1/1: C/A, implied A/E]


story: Favorite Song

by: lauren (aka xo bella italiana ox)

rating: pg

summary: what if everything was wrong…and no one knew your favorite song?

disclaimer: i own nothing

pov: third-person

form: 1/1 partial songfic

inspiration: "favorite song", nine days. download or read the lyrics to see why. either way, great song, very fitting with the story.

notes: unimportant, but for the sake of the story, the favorite song is "nightingale" by norah jones. hmm…favorite songs are a comfort zone for most people, if that helps.

reviews: much appreciated, praise or flame, constructive criticism welcome.

            Music. A familiar chord, something she knew. She took comfort in things she knew.

            She shook it off and smiled at her boyfriend. Leaning against his locker, she giggled. And then she heard the music again. _Stop imagining things. Colin and me, this is what you know. He's the only good thing left._ The music persisted. Trying to block it out, she called in a singsong voice, "Colin! When are you gonna finally clean out that locker?"

            He grunted, hiding a smile. Dropping his books to the floor, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned in for a kiss.

His arms were like her security blanket, and old comfort she knew all too well. Somehow, they weren't enough. She searched his eyes, searching for an old comfort she used to find there. She couldn't find it. She needed something that she knew, something she recognized.

And again, she heard the music.

            Only moments later, a confused boy was calling out, "Amy? Where are you going? We're gonna be late for class!" to a girl who ran so fast her figure had become a blur.

            She slowed down once she reached a deserted hallway. She hadn't imagined it. The song was playing fully and completely now, it's haunting melody so close now, but in a place she couldn't go back to. She wasn't sure why she broke away from Colin, it was almost like…she was running from him. Since when was a stupid song, no matter how significant, more important than the one true love of her life? _He_ was her comfort, not some dumb song.

            She needed to know where that music was coming from.

            Approaching the door where the notes were escaping through, she peered in through the glass window. A familiar stranger sat in front of a piano, eyes closed, his hands gliding freely and skillfully across a stretch of black and white, a nightingale singing. Nightingale.

            She was entranced. Pressing both hands to the door, she watched, she listened, she was taken away. The end of the song was the thing that sent her crashing painfully back into reality.

            Letting out the breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding, she took drew a breath and burst through the door.

            "Why were you playing that song?" she demanded, in a tone she hadn't meant to use.

            The boy nearly fell off his chair at the sudden realization he was not as alone as he thought he'd been. He recovered quickly, and spun around on his bench, easily countering, "Whoa, Amy, unless it was your plan to give me a heart attack, could you try to not sneak up on me like that?"

            "Sorry." She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously, and this time, softer, she repeated, "Um…Ephram…how do you know that song?"

            "What? I'm not allowed?" he retorted, sarcasm lacing his voice, as it often did.

            "It's not exactly a popular song, nor one you'd be listening to, unless you're a closet Norah Jones fan. Which I highly doubt." Shaking her head, she admitted, "It's just that it's my—"

            "Favorite song?" he finished, a faint blush painting his cheeks. "I know."

            They stood there for a few moments, staring at one another, he at the piano bench, she breathless and at last comforted, and then—

            "Amy? Why'd you run off like that?" a loud voice interrupted, oblivious to the fact that something was happening, something beyond two people standing in a room.

            She spun around quickly into outstretched arms and lied, "I-I saw Ephram drop his…" Her eyes fell upon the piano. "Music book, and I…didn't want him to lose it," she finished lamely.

            The boy glared at the backstabber who had once been his friend, and wrapped his arm protectively around his possession. "Come on, Grover, we're both late for English now."

            "You didn't have to come after me, I'm sorry!" she apologized, leaving with him.

            "No prob, I'll pull the coma-boy thing. Works all the time," he bragged, grinning smugly.

            She forced a laugh, but it trailed off into something else. "Hey…Colin?"

            "Yeah?"

            "I know this sounds kind of, like, weird…" she began hesitantly. "But…uh…do you know what my favorite song is?" Slightly embarassed, she looked away. _Of course he knows_.

            "Yeah, of course, that..uh…new Britney one, right?"

            Something inside her died, as did something she thought she saw in his eyes. "Uh, yeah. That's it."

            "Why?" he wondered aloud, trying to sound as though he were just curious, but she thought she heard a slight suspicion, maybe accusing.

            "Oh, nothing, I was just checking," she told him, her voice light, as though the issue were nothing but a mere curiousity, something she already had put behind her.

            "You're a little crazy sometimes, you know that?" he laughed, stroking her hair fondly. He went in to kiss her.

            And she let him, and she kissed him back. The kiss was short but to an observer, affectionate and comfortable.

            She walked hand in hand to class with what she thought to be the other half of her heart. She had him, everything was okay. They were the king and queen. When she was with him, things made sense. She knew why he kissed her and what he was thinking and where he'd be at all times. She knew where he'd been and where he would go. The story of their relationship was easy, girl falls in love with brother's best friend, classic, traditional. She knew this was the way everything had to be.__

            But she still could not explain why the song continued to play in her heart.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

**lyrics**** to "favorite song"**

**(the "you" in the song is the inspiration for Amy**

**the**** "I/me" in the song is inspiration for Ephram"**

  
What if everything you had

Was like a castle made of sand

Would you open up your hand

or hold on tight

What if everything was wrong 

and no one knew your favorite song

there's no one left to sing along 

with you tonight

  
Everything is alright

I will see you tonight

Everything you want 

is in your hands

And I can't help you decide 

The battles you fight inside

and what hurts you

you don't understand

  
and it feels like there's nothing right

and it's all the same to you anyway

  
What if everything you had 

Was like a castle made of sand

Would you open up your hand

or hold on tight

What if everything was wrong 

and no one knew your favorite song

there's no one left to sing along 

with you tonight

  
The better place you wished for

is just outside your front door

still it never seemed so far away

Summer gave no reward

Until this day was dreamed for

You wait to feel the sunlight

on your face 

  
and it feels like there's nothing right

and it's all the same to you anyway

  
What if everything you had 

Was like a castle made of sand

Would you open up your hand

or hold on tight

What if everything was wrong 

and no one knew your favorite song

there is no one left to sing along 

with you tonight

You never know what to say

So you run, you hide away

I see the shadow falling in the summer sun

So you never know what to say

It doesn't matter anyway

You'll heal inside

You'll feel this time

  
And if everything you had 

Was like a castle made of sand

Would you open up your heart

and hold on tight

And if everything was wrong 

I would sing your favorite song

and you would have to sing along 

with me tonight

  
sing along with me tonight

sing along with me tonight

  
What if everything was wrong

and no one knew your favorite song


End file.
